Fiber Optic Active Devices

Electronics play an important role in all fiber optic systems because they provide an interface between the optical fiber and transmission equipment. Many of these components contain both optical and electronic elements, and are thus called "optoelectronic". Electro-optic components fall into two broad categories: devices that convert signals between optical and electrical formats, such as transmitters and receivers; and devices that manipulate light but are powered or controlled by electronic circuits, such as optical amplifiers and modulators. Active devices are electronic components made up of semiconductor materials that actively manipulate electrons to perform the intended function. They require a source of energy to operate and have an output that is a function of present and past input signals. Types of active devices include controlled power supplies, transistors, light sources, amplifiers, and transmitters. This DVD examines the wide array of active devices that are available for fiber optic communications systems, as well as related topics such as thermal noise, loss budgets, optical sub-assemblies, component and system analysis and bit error rate testing.